


Matchmakers and Firestarters

by Liara_90



Category: RWBY
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Awkward Flirting, F/F, First Dates, Fluff, Friendship, Light-Hearted, POV Third Person, Rating May Change, Study Date, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-10 22:25:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7863571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liara_90/pseuds/Liara_90
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ruby likes Velvet. Velvet likes Ruby. It's a shame they're too damn shy to start dating on their own.</p><p>...or so their meddlesome roommates are convinced.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. With Roommates Like These

**Author's Note:**

> I'm pretty sure I'm going to get typecast as an AU writer at this rate...

Ruby Rose didn't know it yet, but she was being watched.

As soon as she stepped into the atrium of Beacon University's student union building a pair of eyes locked onto her, unblinking and unwavering. Tracked her as she navigated through the lunchtime crowds, the food on her tray balanced precariously as she was forced to duck and weave through the throngs of hungry students. Eyes that rested on her as she found the one free seat, as she stammered out an apologetic request to take the space of the woman opposite her-

" _Yang_!"

Yang Xiao Long's head snapped upright, the call of her name freeing her from the hypnotic trance she'd put herself under. Surprise morphed into annoyance as she glanced across her table at the source of the interruption, at the golden eyes and smug smile of her girlfriend. She took an angry bite out of her club sandwich, trying not to look embarrassed at having zoned out of the conversation.

" _Whht_?" Yang asked, not bothering to chew her food first.

"I said, _'spying on Ruby again'_?" repeated Blake, and it was impossible to miss the teasing lilt to her voice. Yang scowled, washing down her sandwich with a swig of orange juice.

"I'm not _spying_ on her," corrected Yang, with a small huff. "It's not my fault that Ruby always has lunch at the same time and place, and that just so happens to align with my timetable."

" _Of course_ ," said Blake, in that dry tone of supreme disbelief. When Yang's expression didn't soften Blake reached across the table and took her girlfriend's hands in her own, soft thumbs playing across calloused skin. "As I understand it, your family's made of some pretty sturdy stuff, Yang. I'm sure she'll be fine."

"I know," murmured Yang, with a morose sigh. "It's just… I worry about her, you know?"

"You don't skip two grades without being able to handle yourself," chimed in Weiss, her attention conspicuously focused on her iPhone and not on the entwined hands of her roommates beside her. "From what I can tell, she seems to genuinely enjoy being in challenging classes for once in her life."

"It's not that," said Yang, her attention drifting back towards her sister once again. "It's more just… she's shy, and nervous, and I don't want her going through college like she went through high school."

Blake's expression sobered a little at her girlfriend's words, a conversation they'd had a hundred times since September. For most of her life Yang had promised that any boys wanting to date her little sis were going to have to go through _her_ first. A few years ago - after one _particularly_ awkward family dinner at a Denny's they could now never return to - Yang had amended that threat so it now applied to any _girls_ wanting to date her little sis. It had always been a joke, a cliché, Yang's over-the-top threats eliciting a playful smirk and a melodramatic groan from her younger sibling.

And then… nothing. Yang never had to make good on her promise because Ruby had never put it to the test. No boyfriends, no girlfriends, no late night dalliances or backyard parties. Just her sister, alone in her room, pouring over textbooks on mechanical engineering and building 3-D models on her computer. One Friday after another after another. Yang had once invited herself into her sister's bedroom, made it clear that she wasn't _really_ going to give any girlfriends of Ruby's a hard time. And Ruby had scowled and blushed, barely waiting for Yang to finish speaking before cranking the volume on her headphones and returning to her digital models.

It felt weird to say it aloud, but Yang was at the point where she was actually _encouraging_ her sister to drink, party and have sex.

"We all climb out of our shells at different paces," offered Pyrrha, sagely, before taking a sip of whatever that ultra-nutritious fruit-blend smoothie _thing_ was. "She's not _depressed_ , is she?"

"No. I mean, I don't think so," replied Yang. She raised one of Blake's hands to her lips and gently kissed it, before releasing it to pick up her sandwich. "It's more like…" Yang glanced over at her sister again, "she can be in the cafeteria, seated across from a perfectly cute girl, and not say a word to her for twenty minutes."

"You know, I think she actually _is_ talking to whoever that is," said Blake, peering down again. Blake, Yang, and their assorted friends were taking lunch on the second floor of the student union building, seated around a table where they could peer over the railing and down into the ground floor of the building. Blake couldn't hear what Ruby was saying, not from this distance, but she could see that her mouth _was_ moving.

"Wait, _really_?" asked Yang, spinning around in a gust of motion, her eyes squinted. "Use your super-ears to tell me what she's saying."

Blake refocused her attention on Yang so she could shoot the blond a dirty scowl. " _Really_?" Even had her ears not been covered by lacy cloth there was no way Blake would have been able to pick out their conversation, not above the hubbub of a dozen other voices and the stomps of a hundred pairs of feet.

Also, Blake belatedly reminded herself, eavesdropping was _wrong_.

"I can read lips!" called out Nora, racing over to the railing so that her head rested beside Yang's.

"No she can't," noted Ren with an inward groan, though nobody was paying attention to him. As usual.

"Ooh, she picked a cute one," said Nora, elbowing Yang with a teasing grin. "Let's see…" Her voice jumped an octave. "' _Yeah, sometimes I find it hard to make friends in new places. It's like… everybody already knows somebody, and they all stay in their groups, and I just stand around awkwardly without talking to anybody_.'"

Nora cleared her throat a little, and both Yang and Blake shot Ren quizzical expressions. Ren's brow was furrowed, and he looked genuinely perplexed at the absence of any dragons or werewolves from the conversation.

" _I know how you feel_ ' - this is the other girl talking! - something, something, ' _I didn't have a lot of friends in school, let alone any girlfriends._ ' Whoa-ho, did Ruby hit the jackpot here or what?"

"Enough with the color commentary," muttered Yang, not glancing away from the conversation. Nora ignored her and carried on.

"Something, something, something, ' _but it's even harder when all anyone sees are two freakishly large ears. Everyone wants to think you're either a monster or a pet._ "

Blake and Yang's eyes both darted at that, taking in the leporine ears that added almost a foot of height to the woman. A flurry of emotions raced through Blake at that moment. _Worry_ , for Faunus traits that distinctive would be extremely difficult to conceal. _Pride_ , that that woman felt brave enough to eat in such an overwhelmingly-human environment, even if Beacon U was renowned for its progressiveness. It took her a moment to put a name to the last emotion. _Remorse_ , that she kept her own feline ears hidden beneath a bow. It wasn't a particularly well-kept secret anymore - almost all her friends knew, and quite a few had seen them - but Blake still wanted the luxury to reveal them on her own terms, to be treated as human until proven otherwise.

Blake shook her head, forcing herself back to the situation at hand. "Is Ruby… uh, ' _in to_ ' … Faunus, by any chance?" she asked, leaning over the table so she could whisper conspiratorially to Yang. It wasn't a particularly uncommon kink, and yet another reason why Blake preferred to keep her ears a third-date-or-later secret. She knew of _far_ too many Faunus-human relationships grounded in a fetish for tails and nothing else.

Yang shook her head. "As far as I can tell, Ruby is _'in to_ ' nothing."

Both glanced back at Nora. "' _That's so cool!_ ' - that's Ruby talking - _'I always wanted to go to Australia but Dad said he's not taking me on a 14 hour flight because of the whole_ ' something, something, something, ' _incident._ " Yang winced a little at that.

"What are you all conspiring about?" called out a voice from behind them. At the end of the table Ren and Jaune slid their chairs in to give Coco Adel a place to sit. But Coco just set her tray down and strolled over to the railing that Blake, Yang and Nora were presently leaning over.

"Hey, Coco," said Yang. "Felt like slumming it in the caf today?" Her eyes didn't leave Ruby, though, and her heart wasn't in the jibe.

"Ruby's been chatting with another girl," Blake said, explaining Yang's concentration.

"Ruby's your... half-sister, right?" asked Coco, glancing over at Yang. "Black hair with red highlights?"

Yang nodded, softly. "Just ' _sister_ ' is fine."

Coco peered over the rim of her designer sunglasses, surveying the mass of humanity beneath them. "Is that her, flirting with Velvs?"

" _Who_?"

Coco rolled her eyes. "Velvet Scarlatina? You know, the only woman on campus with rabbit ears?"

Yang kicked herself. _Of course_ she should have recognized Coco's roommate. Its progressive reputation notwithstanding only a small percentage of Beacon's students were Faunus, and even fewer had traits as prominent as Velvet's. Yang may have only caught a glimpse of the woman once or twice while dropping by Coco's dorm, but still…

Nora resumed her lip-reading. "' _Well if you'd like I'd be happy to go over my anatomy notes with you_ ,' - bunny girl talking - 'something something _tomorrow evening_?'" Velvet's gaze was concentrated on her food, and her posture suggested she was ready to sprint away at that the drop of a hat. "Okay now Ruby's saying something, something, ' _show you how to fix it, it's a really common problem with the older models before they_ …"

"Wait, did… did Ruby just get a date?" asked Yang, her jaw hanging down.

"A _study_ date," corrected Blake, though she couldn't miss how both Coco and Yang were leaning even father over the railing.

"Come on, Velvs, just _reel_ her in," whispered Coco. Every breath hitched as Ruby and Velvet's hands brushed against one another, the two women freezing, then stammering, then blushing horrible shades of red.

"Hey, don't call my sister a fish!" Yang (belatedly) snapped, glaring at Coco. "She's a perfectly respectable young lady."

Coco ignored her, transfixed by the way Velvet's foot was resting gently against Ruby's beneath the table. " _Velvet Scarlatina_ , chasing younger women… I never would have pegged you as the type." Because Velvet’s ‘type’ tended to be women who _definitely_ weren’t good enough for her and invariably broke the sweet young thing’s heart. Or so Coco firmly believed, in any event.

Of course, Velvet took that moment to realize what she'd been unthinkingly doing, and her leg retreated so quickly it banged into the leg of her own chair. For a fleeting moment, an expression of sadness crossed Ruby's face. Coco grimaced.

" _Please_ tell me I wasn't this awkward," said Jaune, wedging himself beside Nora. Ruby's leg seemed to drift out like a feeler beneath the table, even as her cheeks reddened and she fiddled absent-mindedly with plastic cutlery.

As much as it pained Yang to admit it, Jaune looked like a regular Casanova by comparison.

After a minute's awkward silence Ruby pulled out a notebook, though from their distance none of the observers could tell what was in it. "Nora, come on, is there a date or not?" Yang demanded.

"Stop distracting me," growled Nora. She squinted. "Bunny girl-"

"-Velvet," corrected Coco.

"Bunny Velvet saying, ' _wow, that's a very impressive sketch, Ruby. Maybe after we finish reviewing I can take you to where I've been practicing my photography. The woods are very pretty in the evening and the lighting is just amazing…_ "

"Just say _'yes'_ Ruby," murmured Yang, as if uttering a prayer, or a mantra. "Just say yes just say yes just say yes just say yes just say yes…"

"It could be completely platonic," offered Blake, desperately trying to be the voice of reason. Coco nodded ever-so-slightly. Yang ignored her entirely.

Ruby's mouth hung open for a second, and even from her distant vantage Blake could read the expression in her eyes. That moment when you consider making up an excuse, telling a white lie… running away.

Then, after a moment of infinite deliberation, Ruby glanced down at the chocolate chip cookie that remained on her tray… and broke it in half. She handed the larger semi-circle of dessert over to Velvet, who blushed and smiled and nibbled on the delicacy.

The audience was speechless.

Ruby was talking, and Velvet, and they were talking over one another. Then they picked up their trays at the same time, turning their backs to the their audience and strolling away through the crowds.

A half-dozen eyes swiveled to face Nora, whose face was the picture of concentration. "Well…?"

"I think Bunny Velvet said something about inviting Ruby out to the forest where they could practice taking pictures and drawing together." Nora paused, tilting her head. "I didn't catch everything but then Ruby said something about ' _my usual clothes_ ' and Bunny Velvet said something like ' _artistic nudes_ '."

Nora shrugged, spinning on her heel without a care in the world, nor a second thought for the stupefied women she'd been translating for. "Come on, Ren, zoology awaits!"

Her ever-present companion let out an exasperated groan. "Nora. Can't. Read. Lips."

Blake glanced at her girlfriend, then Coco, then sighed. " _Matchmaker, matchmaker, make me a match_ ," she muttered.

"You know," said Yang, speaking to nobody in particular, "they're actually pretty cute together."

Coco nodded. "Shame they're both too damn shy."

"Would _never_ be able to make it work on their own," agreed Yang.

"Um, it seems like Ruby… or Velvet… managed to set up a date all on their own," chimed in Pyrrha. "Maybe we should just... trust them?"

She was ignored. "It'd be good for sis," said Yang. "Finally start dating."

"And Velvet could really use more friends," noted Coco. The two women locked eyes. "I don't think this is the kind of thing we can leave to chance."

" _Nope_ ," confirmed Yang, popping the _p_ with relish. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"God I hope not," groaned Blake.

Destiny had nothing on them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Velvet and Ruby have a candlelit study session (courtesy of Yang).

Velvet glance down at the yellow sticky note for what felt like the hundredth time. _Vale Residence, Room 1383_. Despite it being located near the center of the campus Velvet had never been to Beacon's newest dorm, a towering edifice designed to evoke the Romanesque Revival architecture of 19 th century Europe. She had to admit it was much nicer than the Menagerie dorms she’d spent her first year in, decrepit and overcrowded buildings tucked in the southeast corner, a fifteen minute trek from anything else.

She raised her knuckles and prepared to knock on the door. She kept her fist there, raised, for the better part of a minute, before the door swung open of its own accord.

"Heya, you must be Velvet, I'm Yang, please come in," said the woman on the other side of the threshold, her mouth moving at a mile a minute. Velvet let out a slight _eeeep_ as Yang grabbed her hand and yanked her into the dorm. "Don't worry about taking your shoes off. Ruby's just in her room, lemme grab her for you."

"Thanks, I…" Velvet blinked, and realized that the room wasn’t just poorly lit, it was _un_ lit. "Do you mind if I turn the lights on?"

"You can try," said Yang with a laugh, bumping into a table as she tried to walk and talk at the same time. "Except the bulbs in the dorm just kinda burned out." She paused. "All of them. Weird, eh?" Yang didn't give Velvet time to respond, rapping her knuckles on a nearby door. " _Ruby_ , your study date is here! You have thirty seconds before I break the door in."

"I'm _naked_ ," shot back a slightly-muffled-Ruby, now cursing the timing of her shower.

"Sure she won't mind," teased Yang. She belatedly realized that with all the lights out and the door to the hallway closed she couldn't gauge the blush on Velvet's face. Velvet could still make out the merciless smirk on Yang's, though.

"Hello, Velvet," called out a voice from the other side of the room. Velvet spun 'round and saw Blake, illuminated only by a trickle of light from the window. "Sorry about Yang. She takes some getting used to."

"Yeah, but I grow on you," replied Yang, using the excuse of the darkness to 'stumble' into Blake in the most tactile way possible. "Whoops. Anyways, lets get some candles."

It wasn't a long wait, as Yang had apparently already laid out two wax candles on the newly-wiped-down dinner table, setting them alight with a flick of her Zippo.

With the new illumination Velvet could make out Blake's second set of ears, their lacy bow lying unraveled on Blake's doorknob. Blake caught the way Velvet's eyes darted to her feline appendages, and noted the complete absence of surprise in her expression. "You knew?"

Velvet shrugged slightly. "I had an educated guess," she conceded. Blake sighed. She and Velvet were both enrolled in Faunus Political Science 105, but even in Beacon half the class seemed to be made of freshman humans looking to start an argument. The bow had stayed on. "Let me know if I can help with anything, right? I volunteer with the Faunus Legal Aid Society here and they're really nice people, if you're having problems with any-"

Blake couldn't help but snort a little. "I can take care of myself, don't worry." If Velvet knew _half_ the things she'd spent her teenage years doing... "You…" Ruby threw the door to her room open, just as Yang appeared ready to make good on her promise. "You… are going to need to be careful."

"W-why?" stammered out Velvet, though the arrival of Ruby and Yang aborted their conversation.

"Hey Velvet, please, take a seat," said Yang, the undertone of iron in her voice leaving no room for rebellion; the thought of relocating their study date to the library was never given the chance to enter Velvet's mind. "You too, Ruby." Velvet slunk into the hard wooden chair the dorm had been furnished with - was there something _cheaper_ than IKEA? - and watched as Ruby awkwardly seated herself opposite her.

"You, um, look nice, Velvet," said Ruby, her skin turning crimson as she spoke. Velvet blushed just as hard. Her outfit was nothing special - a wine red blouse atop a pair of jeans that threatened to constrict her circulation and which Coco _assured_ her were in vogue - but the words were heartfelt from Ruby, not some empty compliment to fill dead air.

She smiled. "You look pretty, too, Ruby." And Ruby blushed even harder at that. She was not the kind of girl used to being told she looked pretty. It had only been over the past summer that she'd grown her hair out from a pixie cut, the bangs still felt unfamiliar on her face. She wore an open black-and-red plaid shirt atop a tight-fitting T-shirt, baggy black cargo pants crammed full of the tools of her trade.

"She's our little tomboy," teased Yang, running a hand through Ruby's hair as she made her way to the refrigerator. The light from the inside of the fridge illuminated Ruby's scowl. "She ever tell you about her first school dance?"

"Careful, Yang," Ruby menaced, her voice a lupine growl. "I know where you keep your shampoo."

The implied threat caused Yang to pause, but only for a moment. She slid the door to the fridge closed, dropping a bottle in the middle of the table. "I picked up this sweet ice wine a few days ago, you guys want to try it?" She set two wine glasses down on the table, making the question rather rhetorical. "It might not live up to the heiress' standards but this stuff's actually pretty good." Velvet's glass was full before she had a chance to protest.

"Thank you, um, Yang, but I'm underage," said Velvet, eyeing the glass wearily.

"Oh, really? Me too!" She snorted at her own joke. "You don't have to drink it, I'm just offering. But anyways, nobody's going to tell on you. You think the Ice Queen could make it through the week without a glass of red to unwind?"

"I told you not to call me that," came an irate voice from the other side of a bedroom door.

"That's Weiss. She's literally a princess," Yang explained, topping up Ruby's glass.

"Am not," corrected Weiss, swinging her door open and storming into the common room. "Unless you count a pretender's claim to the now-defunct Kingdom of Hanover." She paused, taking in the scene in front of her. "Really, Yang? Candlelight?"

"Light bulbs stopped working," repeated Yang, in a tone of voice suggesting they would _remain_ that way no matter what anyone tried to do. "Anyways, Velvet, this is, uh-" For the first time that evening Yang's footing stumbled. Blake might have come to accept Weiss, but that hardly meant all Faunus would.

"Weiss Schnee," declared the heiress, her voice politely neutral. After a fraction of a pause, she extended her hand.

"Velvet Scarlatina, ma'am," said Velvet, shaking Weiss' hand with the utmost delicacy. Even in the dim candlelight everyone caught the gesture, the way Velvet's head bowed and her knees bent.

It was a relic of her heritage, of her upbringing in a place where Faunus were expected to be conspicuous in their deference to their human employers. Few humans expected such gestures in the 21st century, and even fewer Faunus were inclined to give it to them. But holdouts remained all over the world, places where humans stubbornly refused to accept that the dynamics of conquest and domination had changed. The Schnee name still demanded the most deference of all, and habits Velvet had learned in the name of safety had unconsciously reasserted themselves.

"Just 'Weiss' is fine, Velvet," said the heiress, after an awkward beat. She knew the fear and hatred her name could evoke, was intimately familiar with the reputation her Father's surname had blessed her with. She'd never been more thankful for the soundproofing in the dorm's walls than during that fateful conversation with Blake…

"Weiss is okay, Velvet," said Blake, trying to defuse the bomb of tension they had unthinkingly armed. She offered a wordless apology for what she was about to do, then ran a hand through Weiss' snow white hair.

"H-hey! What do you think you're doing?!" stammered Weiss, creating distance between her and Blake. Then their eyes both darted to Velvet, at the Faunus waiting for her to explode with a torrent of racial slurs. _Oh._

"See, cool as a cucumber, our Weiss-y," teased Yang. "Anyways, that's our cue to exit." Weiss and Blake had apparently been briefed on the plan already, and had backpacks and attaché cases filled with all the study notes they needed for the night. They began making their way to the door,

a sweater's hood already pulled over Blake's head. "Keep it PG in there, guys," called out Yang, as she crossed the threshold. Her head ducked back over it a moment later. "Or, you know, don't."

* * *

"So, um, those are my roommates," said Ruby, after the patter of their footsteps had finally faded into nothingness. She coughed. "They're cool. Even Weiss!"

Velvet nodded absent-mindedly, unzipping her backpack and pulling out a stack of books from within. She was a second-year, above Ruby, but she'd wisely preserved all her notes from her months as a freshman. "You said Yang is your sister?"

"Mm-hm," confirmed Ruby, shuffling around her own notes in turn. "Different Moms, same Dad. Trust me, you need like thirty minutes and a flow chart to make sense of our family drama."

"So where did you want to start, protein structures?"

"Sounds good," said Ruby, though the enthusiasm faded from her face just a little. "So, um, do you want to try this ice wine?"

Velvet listed from side to side in her seat. "I don't really drink," she said, half-apologetically.

"Yeah, me neither. I mean, why ruin grapes, right?"

"Definitely." Velvet squinted her eyes, trying to make out her own handwriting by candlelight. ' _Was this what being a medieval scholar was like? Bloody nightmare_ '.

"Do you mind if I sit next to you?" asked Ruby. "These candles are pretty and everything, but I can't actually see you that well."

"Sure think, Ruby," said Velvet, shuffling her chair over to give Ruby room to drag hers.

After a moment's consideration, Ruby brought her wine glass with her, too.

* * *

"Really, Yang? Ice wine? In _wine glasses_?" chided Weiss, as the door slammed shut behind them.

"What's wrong with that?" demanded Yang, throwing herself on a nearby couch. Ren glanced up from the kitchen table he'd been studying at, but said nothing.

"Let me run down the list. _One_ \- ice wine is a _dessert_ wine, so if you were planning a romantic evening for them you should have started with something different. _Two_ \- you never fill a wine glass up to the brim, I can only assume you did because you were raised in a frozen wasteland."

"Hey! Leave Canada out of this!" said Yang with a snarl.

Weiss ignored her. " _Three_ \- ice wine is deceptively sweet, which is why even wine connoisseurs can accidentally get drunk on it. _Which is why you use smaller glasses!_ Four-"

"I'm sorry, am I intruding?" asked Pyrrha, questioning again whether this was actually her dorm room. Or why they bothered with doors.

"Yang's just trying to ply her sister with alcohol in the hopes she'll get freaky with one of Coco's friends," surmised Weiss, acidly.

"' _Plying_ ' is such a strong word," retorted Yang. "I gave them a glass each, on a Friday night, in the safety and security of our dorm room."

"You also left the bottle," noted Blake, idly staring at her phone.

"So if they want to have a good time, they can have a good time! Just a little lubrication for the engines of love." She paused. "Hey Blake, speaking of lubrication-"

"There's some in my room!" called out Nora, somehow both hearing them and being heard over the shower she was currently taking. Ren's face twitched a little.

"Not tonight," replied Blake, her attention still monopolized by her phone.

Yang sighed, then rolled her head back over the arm of the couch. "Hey Pyrrha, you mind if we crash here for a few hours? Give sis and bun-bun some 'alone' time?"

"I couldn't possibly say no," answered Pyrrha, Yang blissfully ignorant of the double-entendre.

"You da bomb," she replied.

Pyrrha sighed, and returned to her room. Having a common space in a suite-style room was nice, though her friends being who they were it meant that space was almost always occupied by _someone_.

"Yang came over?" asked Jaune, as she slid the door shut behind her. Pyrrha nodded and returned to her laptop, tapping a few keys so that music came out of it once more.

"Blake and Weiss, too. Something about giving Ruby the room." Pyrrha shrugged, sliding out of her top and tossing it uncaringly to the floor. She wasn’t wearing a bra underneath.

"You're up for another round?" asked Jaune, somewhat incredulously, as Pyrrha pushed him flat onto the mattress.

"I am if you are," she promised, her voice dropping to a sultry _purr_ in her lover's ear. "You're cardio is really improving, Jaune."

"Yeah, well, it kinda has to," he managed to groan out, as Pyrrha's hands drifted southward. "To make it to, what, Round 4? 5?"

"I stopped counting long ago," whispered Pyrrha, as she listened to Jaune's breath catch in his throat.

In a few minutes - and from two directions - Yang was going to remember why you didn't visit the JNPR Dorm on Fridays.

* * *

"Yeah, the suite rooms in Vale Hall are co-ed," explained Ruby, taking another sip of her ice wine. It was actually pretty good, if only by virtue of not really tasting like wine at all. "I mean _mine_ isn't but that's just how things worked out. Freaked Dad out to no end but really doesn't seem like that big a deal to me. I mean we're all adults here, right? Or close enough?"

"Close enough," confirmed Velvet with a sly grin, taking another illicit, forbidden slip. It certainly beat the goon of Down Under, she had to admit. "And you're actually really good at this, Ruby."

"Ha, no," said Ruby, giggling slightly. "Physics, mechanical engineering, structural engineering - that makes sense to me. Stuff I can visualize. This?" She glared angrily at the textbook splayed open between them, at the chains of random letters. "Might as well be gibberish." She paused, twisting the stem of her wine glass back and forth between her fingers. "But you're, you know, _really_ good at explaining it. So that I can piece it together in my head."

"Thank you, Ruby," said Velvet, with a smile. "It helps that I've done this before."

"Heh, yeah. Sorry, um, what did you say your major was again?"

"Pre-vet," said Velvet, before noticing the confused expression on Ruby's face. "Veterinary sciences, I mean."

"Oh? So like, how to treat cats and dogs and stuff?"

"A little of that," confirmed Velvet, "but truth be told I'm more interested in the ecological side of things. How to prevent diseases from spreading in animals, how to keep animals in the wild healthy, what we can learn from zoonoses, that kind of thing. I'm working on a research project on parasitic cancers in Tasmanian devils at the moment."

"Wow, I mean, that sounds super-interesting," gushed Ruby. From anyone else Velvet might have searched for the undertone of sarcasm, but there was nothing but sincerity in Ruby's voice. "I just sit in my room fiddling with AutoCAD all day."

"Do you like it, though?" asked Velvet.

Ruby nodded. "Yup. Well I mean a lot of it is just staring angrily at a graphing calculator and trying to figure out what you did wrong. That sucks. But actually getting to _design_ stuff… I've been working on a blueprint for a new 3D printer in my labs. Basically an improved form of selective laser melting that uses a fifty Watt-slash-40 micrometer beam to make customizable, transformable…" Ruby trailed off, unable to ignore Velvet's expression. "Sorry, I didn't mean to bore you."

"It's not boring!" Velvet hurried to note, one hand unthinkingly finding Ruby's. "I mean, I didn't understand everything but it's nice hearing you talk about something you're obviously passionate about."

"I could take you to the lab sometime, if you wanted," offered Ruby, suddenly very aware that Velvet's hand was still holding hers. And that she didn't actually seem to _mind_. Maybe this was what alcohol was all about? "We figured out how to turn one of the printers into the world's most expensive dog tag embosser." Velvet's thumb played across her knuckles. "You know, um, my way of saying thanks for the tutoring?"

"I… I could think of a way for you to say thanks right now," murmured Velvet, her stomach clenching even as she spoke. _God, why did I think taking advice from Coco was a good idea?_

"You mean, like… oral sex?"

Velvet's heart stopped, and terror froze her veins. That had gone _so_ the wrong way it wasn't even funny.

"I meant a kiss!" she stammered out, once she had command over the power of speech again. "Where did you get that idea?"

* * *

"It's _really_ not a turn on for you?" asked Yang, her head resting in the lap of her girlfriend, whose hands were preoccupied with an old PS2 controller.

"Listening to my closest friends have sex? No, I can't say that it is," confirmed Blake, running her digital rogue through a collapsing dungeon. Weiss had gone for either the world's longest smoke break or to apply for a change of roommates.

"It doesn't give you just a bit of… inspiration?" teased Yang, lilac eyes staring up from Blake's lap. "Or make you feel competitive?"

A troll ran a crude blade through Blake's character's stomach, vanquishing the member of her party. A _GAME OVER_ screen flashes across the television, causing Blake to scowl in annoyance once more.

"You're getting you ass handed to you," noted Yang, rubbing salt into her girlfriend's wounds.

"I know," Blake replied, dryly. "This game is damn-near impossible."

"Oh yeah, Ruby's gotten into it, too," Yang noted, shuffling around on the couch. "She's still stuck on the first level."

"The learning curve _is_ pretty brutal." Blake sighed, restarting the level once again. "I've heard it gets a lot better if you can make it past the first bits, though."

"That's what I've been telling Ruby," Yang agreed. "Luckily for her, Coco offered to help her skip the first few levels. Helps that she knows all the cheat codes."

"Cheat codes?" Blake's ears perked up at that. "I didn't think this game had cheat-" At that moment, Blake realized she and Yang were having conversations in parallel. "Oh god that was an analogy wasn't it?"

Yang's grin was all the confirmation she needed for her mind to fill with dread.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet more experimental writing from me. Not really sure if I trust my own brain anymore. I REALLY need to return to my traditional smut, but here's this in the meantime.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and feedback welcome, as always. More than usual, to be honest.
> 
> Long story short - Not happy with my previous fic (MonCon entry) so here's something of palate cleanser so _that_ is not at the top of my dashboard. Something that's been a work in progress for too damn long. It's still not entirely finished (75% maybe?), which is always a danger for me, so any kind of feedback will double as motivation. I'm in the tiniest of funks concerning my ability to write, so just having something that I'm _more_ comfortable with hopefully kick-starts my self-confidence again.
> 
> In any event, a bit of humor, a bit of fluff. Rated M based on what's liable to come. Hopefully it's light and fun read. And hopefully I've got some more interesting projects in the works.


End file.
